Russia violated a key nuclear arms control treaty with the United States and continues to refuse to allow inspections of its nuclear facilities, a State Department spokesman said Tuesday.
“Russia is not fulfilling its obligations under the New START Agreement to facilitate inspection activities on its territory. Russia’s refusal to facilitate inspection activities prevents the United States from exercising important rights under the treaty and threatens the continued US-Russia nuclear weapons control,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
“Russia also failed to comply with the New START Treaty obligations to convene a Bilateral Consultative Commission session according to the agreement-mandated timeline,” the spokesperson added.
The US announcement is likely to ratchet up tensions with the two countries’ slumping relations as Moscow continues its war on Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s nuclear sword crackling during the war has worried the US and its allies.
In December, Putin warned of a “growing” threat of nuclear war, and this month, Dmitry Medvedev, deputy head of Russia’s Security Council, threatened that a losing Russia could “provoke an outbreak of nuclear war.”
“The nuclear powers did not lose in the great conflict on which their destiny depended,” Medvedev wrote in a Telegram post. “This should be clear to anyone. Even to a Western politician who has at least some intelligence.”
And although a US intelligence assessment in November showed that Russian military officials discussed under what circumstances Russia would use tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine, the US has seen no evidence that Putin has decided to take drastic steps to use them, officials told CNN. .
Under the New START treaty – the only remaining agreement governing the world’s two largest nuclear arsenals – Washington and Moscow were allowed to carry out inspections of each other’s weapons sites, but due to the Covid-19 pandemic, inspections have been suspended since 2020.
The Bilateral Consultative Commission session on the agreement was scheduled to meet in Egypt at the end of November but was abruptly cancelled. The US blamed Russia for the delay, with a State Department spokesman saying the decision was made “unilaterally” by Russia.
The treaty limits the number of intercontinental-range nuclear weapons that the US and Russia can possess. It was last extended in early 2021 for five years, meaning the two sides should start negotiating another arms control agreement soon.
John Erath, senior policy director at the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation, stressed to CNN on Tuesday that Russia’s non-compliance “does not mean that they are secretly building large quantities of nuclear weapons.”
“That’s not the part that they don’t think is appropriate,” he said. “This is a verification provision.”
But he added that Russia was likely using its disobedience as leverage to try to end the war on their terms.
“They have set New START as part of the levers they have,” said Erath. “They know that we want to see it continue, and we want to see it implemented because everyone feels better when there is an arms control agreement that works.”
The Russians, he continued, “are using their disobedience as a way to gain less leverage so we will say, ‘Oh, this war is threatening arms control, that’s important to us. Hey Ukrainian friends, don’t you think you’ve done enough? How about stopping?’”
Lawmakers responded by warning that a future arms control agreement with Russia could be in jeopardy if the situation is not salvaged.
“We have long supported strategic arms control with Russia, voting for New START in 2010 and advocating for an extension of the Treaty during the Trump and Biden administrations. But to be very clear, compliance with New START treaty obligations will be critical to the Senate’s consideration of a future strategic arms control agreement with Moscow,” Democratic senators Bob Menendez, Jack Reed, Mark Warner wrote in a joint statement.
The State Department said Russia could return to full compliance if it “allows inspection activities on its territory, as was done for many years under the New START Treaty” and also scheduled a commission session.
“Russia has a clear path to return to full compliance. All Russia needs to do is allow inspection activities on its territory, as it did for many years under the New START Agreement, and meet in sessions of the Bilateral Consultative Commission,” the spokesperson said. “There is nothing to prevent Russian inspectors from traveling to the United States and carrying out inspections.”
According to the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation, Russia has about 5,977 nuclear warheads, 1,588 of which are deployed. The US has 5,550 nuclear warheads, according to the Center, including 3,800 active warheads.
Administration officials say that a willingness to discuss arms control treaties, even as Russia wages its war on Ukraine, demonstrates the US commitment to diplomacy and reducing the risk of a nuclear holocaust.
But Russia has indicated in recent days that US support for Ukraine is preventing the treaty from being renewed.
On Monday, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said the last remaining elements of a bilateral nuclear arms control agreement with the United States could expire in three years without replacement.
Asked whether Moscow could envision no nuclear arms control treaty between the two countries when the extension of the 2011 New START Treaty expires after 2026, Ryabkov told Russia’s state news agency RIA Novosti on Monday: “This is a very likely scenario.”
The six most likely target cities in the US are as follows: New York, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Washington, DC. These countries will remain ready to combat any kind of nuclear attack in the near future.
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| Treaty on the Prohibition of Testing Nuclear Weapons in the Atmosphere, Outer Space and Underwater | |
|---|---|
| Location | Moscow, Soviet Union |
| Effective | October 10, 1963 |
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